Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! In my English and writing courses, I always love to share the following Anne Lamott quote with students: “…writing needs to breathe and move.” To further expand on this quote, I explain that writing cannot be constricted in a […]
assessment
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
Standards-Based Grading Must Die
For those unaware, standards-based grading is a popular evaluation system designed to simplify teaching, learning, and assessment. It strips a student’s grade down to their ability to meet the announced standards. The idea is that students will learn more easily if teachers grade based upon very explicit and clear standards. Moreover, by standardizing the grading […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teaching During A Pandemic: Where The Grades Don’t Count, And Everything Is Made Up
Teachers on social media are posting inspirational videos. School districts are compassionately giving students food, paper packets, Chrome Books, internet connectivity, and yard signs for seniors. Educators are doing the best they can to make a monumental shift–that may become the norm for the 2020-2021 school year. There is a critical component of school that […]
Posted inThe State of Education
Let’s talk about Testing Anxiety in Children
I can still remember how I felt as I looked at the tears falling from one of my brightest students as she sat in her assigned seat for the Georgia Milestones Assessment last spring. Because I was mandated to sign my life away on a form acknowledging the serious nature of standardized testing, all I […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Keeping Your Teaching Real: A Teacher’s Role
Education has slowly been changing over the last decade. Classrooms are becoming student-centered and the teacher’s role is changing. While I am very comfortable giving my students choice and voice in my classroom, sometimes I feel lost while they are working. What is my role? How do I know I am meeting their needs? How do […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines
Teachers Talk about RTI: The Educator’s Room Survey Results
RTI – Response to Intervention – has made its way to the top of the list of most commonly used education acronyms. Since changes to policy language in the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), the Response to Intervention framework has emerged as the favored way to identify students with learning disabilities. After a decade […]
Posted inFormative Assessments
Formative Assessment: A New Lesson Plan
Formative assessment is using purposeful observations and information about students to move their learning forward. It enables teachers and students to understand their learning and have meaningful dialogue. This has been applied in classrooms through Kahoot! quizzes, exit tickets and quick thumbs up thumbs down activities. Formative assessment, however, has more power when it is […]
Posted inUncategorized
Mini Thought Bubble on Performance Assessments
I recently returned from the Deeper Learning conference for educators in California with my mind imploding from an abundance of ideas. The three-day conference hosted at High Tech High in San Diego presented a broad exploration of equity framed in student experiences that shape education today and tomorrow. Usually, my conference euphoria ends up like a dusty book on […]